Low turnout kills Romania impeachment, figures suggest

Romanian President Traian Basescu addresses reporters at his electoral campaign headquarters in Bucharest on July 29, 2012.

Story highlights

Romanians are deciding whether to remove President Basescu from office

He declares victory as exit polls indicate low turnout

The prime minister says he should consider stepping down anyway

The embattled Romanian president had urged supporters to skip Sunday's vote

An effort to remove embattled Romanian President Traian Basescu from office appeared to have failed Monday, as figures from election officials suggested that low turnout rendered a referendum invalid.

With 97% of of the votes counted, officials said just over 46% of registered voters had cast ballots, short of the majority of registered voters needed for the vote to be valid.

Those who did cast ballots voted nearly 9 to 1 to impeach the president, the Central Election Bureau said.

Basescu had urged his supporters to boycott the polls, saying, "The best help today is to stay home."

After the polls closed at 11 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), he said voters had rejected a "coup" by Prime Minister Victor Ponta and the interim president, Crin Antonescu. Asked if he was certain about the figures, he told them, "I'm never wrong."

Exit polls Sunday had shown that the overwhelming majority of those voting favored Basescu's impeachment.

Two pro-Basescu governments have collapsed, paving the way for Ponta's center-left USL to take office. Ponta succeeded in getting lawmakers to not only suspend Basescu, but to remove both speakers of parliament and replace them with allies.